Equipment

Here's my equipment. I apologize for the lack of focus in some of these pictures; for some reason I was unable to keep my arms still.




A. 6.5 gal. Ale Pail/Bottling Bucket and lid. This can be used as the primary fermentor in a two stage fermentation and doubles as a bottling bucket (note the spigot).
B. 5 gal. glass carboy. This is my main fermentor, complete with temperature strip.




A. Hydrometer and tube.
B. Fermentation lock.
C. Rubber stopper for carboy (fermentation lock fits in here).
D. Sanitizer. I think it's like OxyClean or something because it says it uses oxygen to do its sanitizing and doesn't require rinsing, which is nice.
E. Pipette. I have a few more of these; they're mainly for taking samples for hydrometer readings.




A. Blowoff hose. This attaches to the rubber stopper and will feed into separate container for the first couple of days of fermentation when the carboy is "foaming over".
B. Funnel. Aids in pouring liquids into the carboy.
C. Siphon hose.
D. Funnel filter. This fits nicely in the bottom of the funnel and is pretty finely meshed so you can sparge your hops and filter out other solids.
E. Auto-siphon. A couple pumps is all it takes to get a nice siphon going.




A. 21" stainless steel "charismatic" spoon. I'm not sure why they call them "charismatic". Google isn't much help on the topic. I guess it has something to do with the length of the spoon.
B. 4 gal. stainless steel pot. It's pretty high quality, it has a thick base with a layer of copper to prevent scorching. Very sexy.
C. Digital thermometer. Reads from 0C to 200C. Will mostly be used to monitor wort temperature.




A. The aforementioned book, instructions specific to the ingredient kit, and general instructions from the aforementioned shop.
B. Steeping grains and "sock". These will sit in the wort pot as it heats up and will be taken out before the malt extract is added.
C. Tettnang hops, for flavor.
D. UK Fuggles hops, for bitterness and aroma.
E. Corn Sugar, which will be dissolved and added just before bottling to promote carbonation in-bottle.
F. Dark malt extract.
G. Dry ale yeast.




A. Bottle caps. Lots of them.
B. Bottle capper. Allison informs me that these are a lot of fun. I sure hope so.
C. Bottle filler. It's spring-loaded, so you just push it against the bottom of the bottle to get things flowing.
D. Bottle brush.
E. Carboy brush.




And finally, 48 12oz. bottles. I have some extras hanging around in case I have more beer than can fit in these.

That's it for now. I still intend on brewing on Monday, so a post describing that experience shall follow.